Penultimate day of our January Challenge, version 2025! I finished part two of yesterday's sketch, and it's a bird with a funny name, I mean, it's named for a feature it does NOT have. Meet the Spotless Starling, Sturnus unicolor, found throughout Spain and into nearby areas, including Morocco. This bird was a real target of mine - for the name alone! It really is this shaggy, and usually appears black, with green and bronzy-purple iridescence.

Spotless Starling Sturnus unicolor
Granada Spain, September 7, 2024

Starlings, with and without spots
European Starling and Spotless Starling

New birds have been a challenge to find again, as cold and windy days have returned to Connecticut (after a few pleasant days). Today Jorge brings you our feisty Black-capped Chickadee, year-round resident and a familiar visitor to backyard feeders.

Black-capped Chickadee, Poecile atricapillus
on a branch of Staghorn Sumac, Rhus typhina

 A new family theme today, the Paridae, tits, titmice, chickadees - they're found throughout the world. Today's sketch features the Bridled Titmouse which we observed on Mount Lemmon near Tucson in April 2024 and the Tufted Titmouse and Black-capped Chickadee which are year-round visitors to our feeders in Connecticut.

Bridled Titmouse, Baeolophus wollweberi
Tufted Titmouse, Baeolophus bicolor
Black-capped Chickadee, Poecile atricapillus

Jorge's pick for today is a Common Merganser. This is the female, up from a successful hunting trip.

Common Merganser, Mergus merganser

AiA Bird-a-Day #27

January 27, 2015 - a big snow day here in Connecticut. Again, the feeders were very active, and today a kind of special happening, pictured in my drawing.

BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE (Poecile atricapillus) Colored pencil and sharpie marker.
January 27, 2015. Willington, Connecticut, USA

Each species in our yard has its favored feeding stations and perching places. The chickadees like the "chickadee restaurant" next door to the rhododendron shrub - where this one posed for Jorge's camera.

BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE (Poecile atricapillus)
January 27, 2015, Willington, Connecticut, USA

January 17th - AiA Challenge rolls on

One of the most frequent visitors to our bird feeders in winter is the chickadee.  This afternoon I observed them make countless trips from the feeder to a nearby bush, hammer open a seed then hop to another branch and do a quick bill-wiping motion.

Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapilla). Sharpie marker.
Willington, Connecticut, USA. January 17, 2015.

In January in Connecticut, we see loons along the coast. They have lost their distinctive black and white spotted pattern, and instead wear a drab coat of gray and white.

Common Loon (Gavia immer)
Connecticut, USA. January 2015.